Help, my teenage cockerel is out of control!

[Acornsandabsolution]

Having three seperate groups (each rooster with five hens) if you plan to free range can work well if you have the space and resources, and a lot of patience.
My view has in the past been if you have to remove a cockerel, or rooster from the group because of his behaviour towards the hens then that rooster doesn't go back. I wouldn't cage a couple of roosters on the off chance things improve.

Thank you! This makes a lot of sense. I put the BCM cockerel out to free range by himself (and give some of the girls a break) this evening for a couple hours. While the pullets that he has been terrorizing were much more at ease with him out of the run, a few of the females that he doesn't chase or bother in the pen seemed quite stressed at his absence. 4 or 5 of the pullets and the cockerel separated by the fence still pretty much stuck together the whole time he was out. He only wandered off to peck around in the yard a couple times, then went right back to the girls that were missing him. It made me wonder if that small group would be happier together away from the rest of the flock. Your suggestion to put them in smaller groups seems like it may work for them.
Thank you for your advice and for your threads and stories. I am pretty new to chicken keeping and have learned a lot from your writings.

 

[Acornsandabsolution]

Thank you all for sharing your knowledge and insight! With time being a factor, I went out last evening and bought a pre-fab coop from the farm supply store that will hold about 4 or 5 chickens. (of course the box said it has a much higher capacity, I don't know what these manufacturers think when they slap these high numbers on coops) Anyway, I am going to spend the day putting it together and reinforcing it with my own latches, hardware cloth etc. to make it as safe as possible and move BCM cockerel and a few of his girls to it afterwards. I realize this is a major trial and error situation. In the few hours I had the guy out of the run last evening, the 4 easter eggers that he terrorizes were so much more at ease and things in the run seemed happy again....with exception of the few girls that have developed some kind of bond with the BCM cockerel and were totally stressed that he was away from them. Again, thank you all for your replies!

 

[NikkisChickees]

Having three seperate groups (each rooster with five hens) if you plan to free range can work well if you have the space and resources, and a lot of patience.
My view has in the past been if you have to remove a cockerel, or rooster from the group because of his behaviour towards the hens then that rooster doesn't go back. I wouldn't cage a couple of roosters on the off chance things improve.

I agree to this. For less stress on your hens: 5-8 hens per roo. I hope one of them matures into a gentleman worthy of your ladies. Roosters can be so beautiful and sweet, very valuable to flock life, while others are not. Hoping for the best for you